Did you know that giving a gift to someone else is like giving a gift to yourself? This is scientifically proven through psychology. It’s just the natural way that our brains work. When you do something kind for another person, especially without expecting anything back, your brain releases “feel-good” chemicals like dopamine and oxytocin. These are the same chemicals that make you feel happy and connected when good things happen to you. Basically, your brain can’t tell the difference between giving and receiving. This means when you give a gift to someone else you don’t just light up their body with all those feel-good chemicals—you also do the same for yourself. Scientific evidence postulates that this often leads to a healthier, more fulfilling life. It also appears to extend your life span when you frequently give gifts and compliments to others; even if you don’t know them.
Let’s go more in depth about this:
Charged With Positive Feelings
When you see someone’s face light up because of a gift you gave them, you create a surge of positive emotions within the other person and yourself. This feeling is a reward for your brain, and it’s very similar to the feeling you get when you receive something you’ve wanted. Your subconscious mind can’t really perceive the difference between “I received this good thing” and “I caused this good thing to happen to someone else.” The positive emotional feedback is what your subconscious mind latches onto.
Generosity Creates A Positivity Loop
Your brain is always looking for patterns and trying to encourage behaviors that lead to positive outcomes. When giving a gift makes you feel good, your brain takes note. It’s like your subconscious says, “Hey, that felt good! Let’s do more of that!” The feeling starts to become addictive in its’ own sense through the dopamine rush that comes with giving. This reinforces the idea, in your mind, that generosity is a rewarding activity.
Connection and Belonging
Humans are naturally social creatures. When you give a gift, you strengthen your bond with that person. Feeling connected and part of a community is a fundamental human need, and meeting that need makes us feel satisfied and secure within ourselves and around others. Your subconscious mind picks up on this increased sense of belonging and well-being. The power of the subconscious mind then begins to transform you into the person you perceive yourself to be. When you perceive yourself to be a giver your subconscious mind runs through a constant reminder loop that you are a good, well-meaning person. The longer this loop is held within a person, the more they grow into that image they perceive themselves to be. As you grow into that image, your body remains in a state of satisfaction and security that leads you to grow in a healthy way. Your biological chemistry literally reacts to this by transforming accordingly from the inside out. Your immune system and organs start to become more resilient. Your sense of guilt and worthlessness fades with that constant self-healing transformation process.
Mirroring and Empathy
We have a natural ability to empathize with others. When you see someone else happy, your brain sort of mirrors their happiness to some extent. Think of how you might smile when you see someone you love smiling. It’s like you’re experiencing a little bit of their joy. So, in a way, their positive reaction becomes your positive reaction as well.
To summarize
Your subconscious mind experiences the joy and positive feelings that come from an act of giving as a personal reward. It’s not just about the other person; it’s about the positive loop created within your own mind that makes you feel good and encourages more kind behavior. So, by making someone else happy, you’re also making yourself happy on a very fundamental, biological level. By creating that joy in someone else you are also generating the same energy within yourself. This is why it’s so important that we take care of each other, and learn to give more than we receive.
